If 8GB worth of NAND Flash clearly isn't worth the $100 difference between this one and the Galaxy S III or the HTC One X when it debuted, one has to wonder why the GS III and certainly the iPhone 4S sell for so much in the first place.

Oh well, no more iPhones for me. I'm tired of basically being cheated on the cost of Flash.Reply

SGS3 is lighter, has a bigger, removable battery, SAMOLED display (which is superior to normal LCDs in my book), double the RAM and double the NAND. That's what that extra $100 gets you. I'd chose the SGS3 over this any time.Reply

I strongly considered the Atrix HD because I didn't want to pay $200 for a SGS3 and I hoped that the Atrix would be "good enough" for half the price. In the end I figured I might as well buy something that meets or exceeds my needs now, and should hold up in the future.....and I went ahead and paid the extra $100 for the SGS3. Couldn't be happier.

The general consensus seems to be to not compare the AHD to the SGS3 or the One X and I think that's a good point to make, because the AHD is, as the review states, more of a middle class device than a higher class/top tier phone. With One X's now being lowered to $99, I think the AHD is an even harder sell than it already was and I expect these to drop to $49 before too long otherwise they're going to have an even worse uphill battle. Clearly the price tag of the SGS3 is not scaring people off.....and for good reason - it's a phenomenal phone, arguably the best phone available today.Reply

I assume that the color issue persisted with the new phone you received to resolve the camera issue since you didn't say otherwise. When I first saw the specs and price for this phone I figured it would end up being a pretty solid mid level phone and most people probably wouldn't be bothered by the display or if they were it would be at a level where they couldn't put their finger on why it bother them.Reply

I know most of these are written with certain things in mind, and mostly started before market adjustments happen. But when you put a mid range phone againist a high end phone (the htc one x) thats the same price as each other, its hard to recomend the mid range phone. The htc has been 99 at att for over a month now. Its the best phone for the money that they carry as far as complete packages are concerned. Reply

Umm, they can edit the line referring to price, or update their conclusion, or come out with these reviews in a more timely manner, or SOMETHING.

Talking about how this is the only Krait available for 99 when the One-X has been 99 for weeks just makes the article look bad.

Just overall, the review isn't timely enough. This phone came out in late July IIRC. At that time I was kind of interested in it as an SGS3 alternative. That seems like forever ago and the Anand review is just now hitting? It's way too late to do any good.

However, Anand does the most thorough phone reviews that I trust the most. A lot of reviews from all the phone sites, while they may review the phone a day after release, are really shitty. To me they're more like first impressions masquerading as reviews.

So I guess, it's a big catch 22, and I dont know the answer. But just in general I wish this review was more timely by far. Like maybe first week of August or anything.Reply

Anandtech adjusts, and learns, from things like this. I hope the next phone review is a bit more forward thinking and includes scenarios such as price drops ( if they think the price will drop just after, or even before the review is released).Reply

Jason, it seems you're not too familiar with v-sync.The differences between the onscreen and offscreen tests (v-sync'd and not) are perfectly normal and have nothing to do with 'thermal issues that arise because of the heat generated by the screen'.The simple explanation is that when v-sync is off, the gpu doesn't have to wait for the monitor to refresh to send the back buffer to the frame buffer. This will cause an increase in frame rate, even under 60fps.Reply

I've been playing with HTC One X, SGS3 and a bit with the ATRIX HD finally. (I did consider the Nokia 900 and iPhone4s - No on iPhone because of Apples lawyers and iPhones are more prone to theft - no on WP7... and its dead end system... even at $50).

I helped my business partner go with the Samsung GS3... its quite nice... and these 3 phones include an LED messaging light (handy!). But the screens on GS3s are a bit dark.

Because of the Power button and USB connector location, I tossed out the HTC-One X. Otherwise, its screen, the feel of the body scores a 10 in my book. The Camera is still odd to me. I just won't deal with that button arrangement. Hence, we have CHOICES.

Love the HOME button on the GS3... Can't stand the glossy plastic feel - the phone is too big for me to make it even bigger with a cover. The cover my friend bought, feel apart after a month.

The review cleared up a few areas that helps me out on this... THANKS Jason. (sorry for poking ya about it) - I wish the camera was a bit better, but I use real cameras when photos count. Hence, the 8GB of memory means nothing to me. The issues you bring up are valid (the SD slot cover) and slightly odd looking back. Would NFC added more than $5 to the price? I *WILL* be going with the white version because I like how it looks from the front and side. IMHO, they should have made it solid... it would have looked more modern. I actually like how the texture differences feel. The black band has speckles on it (think IBM type-writer/keyboards of the 80s) which is old-school texture..

I love how the phone feels (not quite as much as the HTC One). I've played with putting it in my pocket and seeing how I can get phone out. I wish it was a bit smaller. The VOL buttons can be set to control ZOOM or SHUTTER... very smart. Also, because of the lack of MAIN buttons, there is a bit more flexibility in using the phone.

At least down here, at&t is including a CAR-DOCK ($40 usually) with this Atrix HD... so its almost like paying $60 for the phone. The DOCK attaches to you car and your phone clamps to it. What the dock does is charge your phone and puts it into a GPS mode... It'll operate in a hands free mode (speaks your text messages / speaker phone modes). When you remove the phone from the dock, it can "tag" your car location... so if its in a big parking lot, the Atrix HD will point to your car. (unless it was stolen, of course)

I like the standard interface of the Atrix HD too... over the Samsung and a bit over the HTC for the very reasons you pointed out... using it on the phone is quite nice. I've been using launcher7 on my Galaxy S1 phone for 1.5 years. (It a WP7 Launcher interface) - I think I'm good with ICS on the Atrix to keep it stock.... its a nice screen and to reduce to basic plain color blocks seems a shame.

I'm glad you did a proper battery test. Reviews I've seen from end users "battery sucks" had me worried. hence, I trust reviews that use standards that can be compared to products, not just what someone decides based on their own usage. None of the phones on your list is as bad as my 2 year old Galaxy S1.

PS: I've seen the preview photos of the Lumia 820... that is a very COOL looking phone. Too bad they don't make an Android version. :) I'm sure Launcher 8 will come out if I feel the need to use that User Interface style. There is also WP7 style Phone Dialer / Texting apps too... ITs that kind of flexibility that keeps me on Android.

PS: I always recommend people to still try out the phones themselves to make sure they are comfortable with it. I trust the HTC One X - but its still not for me.Reply

You have the battery in the RAZR MAXX, but it's not used in every phone you make.. why not? It would be a huge draw. No other manufacturers have cottoned on yet that people want huge battery life, but you did.. with one model.Reply

does anybody make rugged smartphones? No mater what phone I had they rarely lasted more then 6-12 months so i ended up with Sonim XP3 but it's too bulky but i could live with that.True problem is the buggy SW.From the Smartphone on the market Motorola razr seems like most robust but battery live is poor.If anybody have an idea what else to look at please post here.

Criteria are following1) Durability2) Reliability3) battery live 3 days of medium use or replaceable battery to be able to carry spare battery for longer weekend hikes4) Android

Maybe adjust your behaviour first? I have broken 2 phones out of 5 I owned, one because of a car/bike accident and one because of a fight I was in. My 2 most recent ones (HTC TP2 and Samsung SGS2) have survived 20+ and 15+ months so far.Reply

I have zero broken phones out of all that I've owned since 1999 (and a few pagers before that). Work has always paid for my phones + service (currently iPhone 4S). I'll probably break one when I pay for it myself...Reply

Why oh WHY can't Android phone makers put decent hardware in a phone <4" with removable battery and SD card slot?Even going for 4.2-4.5" with those requirements is hard to find and their important features for a great number of people.

Removable battery isn't a major issue for most people. As long as there is a way to hard-reset the phone. My Galaxy S1 Captivate has a handy slide-removable cover - which gets used a lot because it locks up.

Talk time on todays phones are pretty good.

The HTC ONE X has a non-removable battery, also can't add memory to it.

Even thou the S3's cover can come off... it actually works pretty good underwater... a video is on CNET... dropped in a fish bowl for a few seconds. Only thing dumb about it - She tried to turn the PHONE OFF (but it thought it wanted her to unlock/reboot) - rather than pull the battery ASAP.Reply

Given Motorola's track record of support for existing devices I'm staying the heck away from this one. My Atrix4G, hailed as the world's most powerful phone when it was released just one year ago, still does not have ICS or JB. It has 1GB RAM, 16GB ROM, and dual core 1ghz A9 (Tegra2), no reason it shouldn't receive ICS, JB and (potentially Android 5.0), but I'm not holding my breath to get even ICS.

In addition Motorola's touch screens leave a lot lacking. Every phone of theirs that I've used (OGDroid, Droid2, Droid3, Atrix4G, Droid Bionic) has too low of a resolution of touch-sensing and has a grid of "dead zones" where the screen will jitter if you hold you finger there while dragging something (like the notification bar). Makes for a very unpleasant phone experience that I do not want again.

So needless to say I will be going HTC or Samsung or frickin anybody else but Motorola next round.Reply

totally agree.. I also got the Atrix 4G and the update support has been terrible. Regardless of how good the hardware is, without timely updates it's not worth it. Gonna go with a Google Nexus branded device next time. (stock Android is better than any of these tarted up skins the OEMs put on there)Reply

That's just speculation, and also irrelevant since updates would be handled by the Android software team regardless... Doubly irrelevant if rumors of an expanded multi-manufacturer Nexus lineup are to be believed.Reply

Any chance that you can start testing battery life on GPS in some of these reviews? I am astonished at how fast GPS runs down the battery of my HTC One-X and would love to see how other smartphones fare.Reply

Well... I finally got my Atrix HD today. So far, I'm liking the phone a lot... much more than my Galaxy S1... and personally, I still like it over the SGS3. Still getting used to Android 4.0

Anyways, soon after activation - there is a 66mb upgrade for the Atrix HD phone which is supposed to:- Improve battery life (always a good thing)- Improve Wifi- some security fixes.- Improved Camera functions and image quality.

Since I just got the Phone and did the update on its first charge, I don't have much to compare it with.

Battery life seems to be getting better every day. Also, I've shut down some useless apps, mostly at&t ones for thinks I just don't need.

Best Buy is now selling this phone (by itself) for $30... a steal.

The phone fells great. The review is pretty accurate on its shortcomings (SIM cover). I also played with a friends new Samsung Galaxy S3, fixing some settings... and was glad to have bought the Atrix HD over the Samsung (even thou it is a somewhat better phone on the hardware end)

can you remove/change the keyboard that suggest words ? I hate that, I just want the old fashion touch 1 letter at a time ! Sorry, but I am an older user and swype isn't for me, nor the suggestion of words.

Stay away from the Motorola Atrix HD as it will not last the length of your contract. Purchased one at AT&T on 8/24/2012 with a 2 year contract. The phone battery lasted until 10/20/2012. After many questions by warranty such as "Do you leave the phone on at night?" I was able to obtain a new one under warranty spending $14.95 for expedited shipping.I doubt this phone will last until the end of the contract as the battery which cannot be changed will die again and at that point I have nothing, nada, for a phone. Maybe it will get dropped overboard while fishing as it is insured. Probably will end up buying another phone on eBay to get to end of contract. Wanted to pay for a new Samsung and trade in this NEW Motorola but they would not deal or wanted $450.00 for me to change phones. I am stuck with this one but no more Motorola phones for me. My son has the Samsung Galaxy III and has no issues with it. Should have spent the additional $100.00 and got a quality phone. John Arbuckle said "You get what you paid for". Boy, was he right!Camera is poor on the Motorola. Photos come out rather yellow looking. Difficult to save photos and some I have not been able to delete.My suggestion. spend a little more money and get a much better phone than the Motorola. I hope it lasts till contract ends but i am not confident. Reply